


Simply cannot do it alone.

by everydaytomholland



Series: Pangs [5]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Major Character Injury, Near Death Experiences, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16127981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everydaytomholland/pseuds/everydaytomholland
Summary: Spider-man: Homecoming if Tony had never recruited Peter in Civil War.





	Simply cannot do it alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "I can't do it alone" from the musical Chicago.
> 
> Enjoy!

Contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark wasn’t completely irresponsible. Ever since he got involved with the Avengers, he’d been keeping tabs on a number of enhanced individuals, as well as setting up alerts through Jarvis, and now Friday, of any vigilantes popping up on the scene. When this spider guy first appeared in his notifications, he was definitely intrigued. Things were starting to get crazy with the UN intervening in their business so he was starting to think he could use some more allies. Tracking down the spider dude was easier than he first thought. At first he thought it was because the guy was careless. Then he realised it was because he was a kid, literally a kid. His name was Peter Parker and he’d only just turned 15. He was an orphan and one of his guardians had died recently. Yeah, the kid didn’t need to deal with the Avengers crap on top of that. 

Lying on his back in Siberia a few weeks later, trying to catch his breath after Cap had slammed his shield into his chest, he wondered if he’d made the right choice. 

Peter really enjoyed being Spider-Man. He’d gone a little overboard in how much he’d gone out patrolling over the summer break and now that he’d gotten a taste of being a more or less full time hero, he found it hard to reign himself in. Which was why, once school started back, he began dropping a bunch of his extra curriculars. He felt a bit guilty about lying to May about what he was doing with his time, but he justified it to himself because he knew he was helping people. He felt almost guiltier about lying to Ned, but since Peter was usually so trustworthy, Ned never questioned his pathetic excuses. 

Things were easier after Ned found out. That had been a crazy night. He’d run into some guys wearing crappy avengers masks robbing a bank with what looked like some kind of alien weapons. He almost managed to stop them but then they almost kinda blew up Mr Delmar’s Deli and he had to go help him. It was a crazy night. And then on top of everything, Ned found out his biggest secret. He had to admit he was kinda glad someone else knew now.

Ned almost made a mess of things when he blurted out that Peter was friends with Spider-Man, but he covered it with some story about helping Spidey patch up an injury and they got to chatting, then running into each other a few times since then. Regardless, no one seemed to be too suspicious. And he supposed one perk was that it got him invited to Liz’s party.

He wasn’t at Liz’s party for long before he ended up on the roof – he was going to pop in and make a brief appearance as Spider-Man to try and improve his and Ned’s street cred. Before he even got his mask on, he saw a massive explosion in the distance that was a crazy colour – definitely didn’t look human. He was gonna have to chase it up. 

So he reluctantly left the party. He couldn’t believe that he’d never considered how difficult it would be to get around when he didn’t have a bunch of tall buildings to swing off of. Nevertheless, his enhanced athletic abilities still got him there in no time. He perched in a corner under the bridge, watching what was happening. It looked to him like a drug deal going down – until he saw one of the men pull a crazy looking weapon. He could tell things were getting heated and before he knew it he was telling him to shoot him instead of the other guy. 

Probably not the best idea he’d ever had. Still, they turned their attention away from the other guy and he was able to escape. The other guys with the van were trying to escape from him now so he had to chase them. It was crazy trying to keep up with the speeding van, but he was just about ready to pounce on its roof when he felt talons gripping his ankles and lifting him high in the air. He was panicking, the fact that he could see the bright lights of Manhattan in the distance wasn’t helping. 

Before he know it though, he was dropped. He hit the water with a painful smack and felt all the air leave his body. His suit was full of water and weighing him down; he couldn’t find the surface. He was on the edge of consciousness when he felt someone grab his hand and pull him upwards. He must’ve blacked out but only for a minute or two. When he woke up he was still soaking wet, his mask rolled up above his mouth but otherwise still covering his face.   
“You okay, Spider-Man?” he didn’t know who that man was but assumed it was his saviour.   
“Yeah, I – what happened?” the guy looked sheepish.   
“I was about to smoke a joint, saw you hit the water and figured I should make sure you’re okay.”  
“Thanks. Normally I’d probably tell you not to do drugs but you saved my life so I figure we’re even.” The man laughed.   
“Before you go, can I take a selfie? My niece is a big fan.” Peter smiled back at him.

Peter was trekking back to Liz’s place when he found a weird glowy thing that definitely looked like a part of the weapons the bad guys had had. He picked it up and slipped it in his pocket, figuring it was safer in his hands than someone else’s. 

He felt guilty about not going to DC with the decathlon team but he couldn’t leave Queens unprotected for an entire weekend; especially when he knew there were some guys selling crazy weapons. Besides, apart from the whole winning thing, the trip didn’t even sound that exciting. A few days after that he saved a girl from getting hit by a car while on patrol and it was only after he looked up that he saw that it was Liz. After he finished freaking out internally, offered to walk her home. Thankfully she only needed to go as far as her mom’s work a few blocks away but Spider-Man still escorted her there. She kissed him on the cheek when she said goodbye and he didn’t stop smiling behind the mask for the rest of the day. 

On patrol the following day, he ran into a familiar face. He saw a man struggling to carry a large load of groceries to his car and offered to help when he realised it was the man from under the bridge the other night. It took a little bit of pleading/interrogation but eventually the man told him where he’d be able to find the guys making the weapons.

Peter knew he wouldn’t be able to take on those guys single handed, especially not on the Staten Island Ferry in the middle of the day; so he decided to keep a low profile. He didn’t even have his suit on him, but thanks to his enhanced senses he was able to figure out who all the men were and get photos of them all on his phone. Most of the guys he’d seen before, except for an older man who Peter suspected was the guy with the wings that dropped him in the lake the other night. 

Once he got off the ferry, he printed the pictures of and put them in a package along with the glowy thing, and a note from Spider-Man, explaining everything. He dropped in the mailbox to be sent to Stark Tower on his way to school the next morning.

Now that he was sure that Mr Stark/Iron Man would be handling this situation, he felt a lot more relaxed. He even finally managed to pluck up the courage to ask Liz to go to the Homecoming dance with him; though admittedly he wasn’t expecting her to say yes. 

The night of the dance, he was standing in the living room, watching the news while May ironed his shirt when he saw a report saying that Mr Stark had sold the tower and was moving everything upstate that night. He hoped his package had made it in time. He didn’t linger on it though, he was too excited about going to the dance with Liz. The whole drive to her house he was bouncing in his seat excitedly. May gave him one last pep talk and handed him the corsage as he left her car and walked up to the door. As he waited for someone to open it he shook out the last of his nerves. He started to smile as he heard someone unlocking the door from the inside. Someone opened the door and his smile fell. Shit.

He had never been more grateful that his civilian identity was hidden. Liz’s dad was the guy with the wings; the one whose face he’d finally seen on the Ferry. He guessed that Iron Man hadn’t gotten his package since Mr Toomes was still walking around and hadn’t been arrested. The guy clearly had no idea who Peter was and was making typical protective father small talk. He thought they took some photos before they left the house but honestly he wasn’t sure. He was trying to keep his cool long enough to get to the dance, then he was going to do everything he could to let Iron Man know that this guy’s still running around with crazy weapons.

He can see Liz’s dad watching him in the rear view mirror. They finally make it to the front of the school and Peter thinks he’s in the clear. Then he hears Mr Toomes ask Liz to leave so he and Peter can have a little talk. He has a gut feeling that the man has figured out who he is, or at least suspects it; he doesn’t expect the man to pull a gun on him. He gives him an out though, lets him go in exchange for leaving him alone. So Peter walks into the dance with no intention of actually staying there. It was clear from the way the man talked that there was something big planned for that very night.

This was confirmed to him when one of the guy’s henchmen was waiting for him at the back of the school. Thanks to Ned of all people, he managed to make it out of their brief scuffle unharmed. He couldn’t linger though. He realised what their plans for that night were. It felt like days, not a couple of hours, since he’d watched that news broadcast about the Avengers moving everything upstate that very night, his bet was that these evil guys were going to try and hijack the plane and steal all the weapons and tech on board.  
“Ned! The guy with the wings is Liz’s dad”  
“What?!”  
“I know! You have to get in contact with Tony Stark! He’s gonna try and steal his plane! And get a computer and track my phone for me!” he started to leave.   
“Are you gonna be okay?” Ned shouted after him.   
“Hurry, we gotta catch him before he leaves town!”

Peter ran off. Within moments he seized an opportunity to get some payback on Flash when Spider-Man took his car and phone. He called Ned straight away. He wasn’t able to get in touch with Iron Man (Happy had scoffed when he said he was calling on behalf of Spider-Man and promptly hung up) so Peter told him to keep trying. He did manage to track Peter’s phone to an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn; the guy’s lair probably.

The place was pretty empty when he walked in, except for a single workbench and Liz’s dad. He realised too late that it was a trap. But when the wings missed him he thought he’d outsmarted them. It was in the moment before he was knocked out by a slab of cement that he realised that was the plan all along. 

Peter was in a lot of pain when he came to moments later. He was glad that he’d incorporated a watch into his web shooters, he could see that only a couple of minutes had passed since he walked into the warehouse; the dust hadn’t even settled yet. He was struggling to breathe though, crushed by the weight of the tons of cement. He screamed for help for a moment but he realised no one knew where he was. No one was coming to help him. He had to get himself out.

His head was pounding and his lungs aching but he couldn’t think about that. He could see Liz’s dad perched on top of a nearby billboard, waiting for something. He wasn’t sure what, until he saw a plane taking off from the top of Avenger’s Tower. As Mr Toomes was taking off to follow the plane, Peter webbed himself to the back of it, holding on for dear life as he was dragged along unnoticed. 

Once they reached the plane, they had quite a battle in the air, eventually crashing into the beach at Coney Island. Peter’s ears were ringing and he couldn’t hear anything over the buzzing. He didn’t have time to clear his head, Toomes wouldn’t stop fighting him, and so he couldn’t stop. He could barely hold onto consciousness after being slammed into the ground so many times, but he could tell when Toomes abandoned him to get some of the Stark tech that was strewn all over the beach. He looked up and things were worse than he thought. There was smoke everywhere in the air and small fires around, but his focus was on the sparks flying from the back of those wings; they were gonna blow any second. He tried to intervene but he wasn’t fast enough. 

He thought of Ben in that moment. And his dad. And how he didn’t want Liz to end up without a father like him. So despite every inch of his body protesting, he ran through the fire and pulled Liz’s dad out. It was a struggle, but he managed to tie the guy up to one of the crates before he regained consciousness. Peter didn’t say anything as he left a note beside the man; he was finding it harder to focus with every breath.   
“Pete, are you okay?” He didn’t hear the man ask him the question. His whole body was screaming in pain as he limped away. He looked longingly at the water, it would definitely soothe his aching body, and he was so hot in his suit. He didn’t remember falling into the shallow water but nevertheless, he felt it soaking his body and lapping at his face. He thought he heard voices yelling in the distance but before he could process it he had passed out. 

Toomes and his men had failed to take into account just how advanced Tony Stark’s tech was. FRIDAY had alerted him the moment the plane had gone off course. He was in the middle of rerouting it remotely when he got the notification that two of the engines had failed and that it was losing altitude. He was already on his way to the city when he was notified that it had crashed on Coney Island. 

Happy had only just found Toomes, still tied up, when Tony landed beside him and read the note.   
“Well I’ll be damned, I really underestimated that kid.” Toomes looked up at that. He was about to start speaking but Tony shut him up. “Nope, save it for your lawyer.” He turned to direct the clean-up crew on how to take care of the mess, but Toomes interrupted him.  
“Is Peter okay?”  
“You know the kid?”  
“Yeah, he’s kind of dating my daughter. Look, he wasn’t looking too good when I saw him last, is he okay?” Tony turned to Happy.   
“Hap, how’s the kid?”  
“Haven’t seen him since I got here.” Tony was worried now.   
“Which way did he go?” He asked Toomes.   
“Not sure, behind me somewhere.” Tony immediately went into the air to look for the boy.

At first glance he didn’t see anything other than the remains of the plane and other wreckage. Then he saw something on the beach, half submerged in the water that looked like it could be a person; he flew over to it. At first he thought Spider-Man was still wearing his mask, then he realised with horror that it was blood covering the boy’s face.   
“FRIDAY, read vitals.” He felt his stomach drop at the laundry list of injuries. There was the obvious lacerations all over, several broken and dislocated bones, a head injury, and internal bleeding. The kid was still breathing, and his heart was still beating, but he was deteriorating fast. He didn’t have time to wait for a medevac, Tony scooped him up and was rushing him to the built in hospital in the compound; he was glad there was a live in staff. 

Once Peter was safely in surgery, he knew he had to contact his family. He called Happy first.   
“Hap, the kid’s in surgery, I’m calling his guardian but I’m gonna need you to pick them up and drive them to the compound.” The man let out a groan. “Hap?”  
“His friend called. Before the plane crashed. He said he was with Spider-Man, I thought he was just playing a prank. I didn’t know Spider-Man was just a kid!”  
“Right, we’ll talk about that later. Pick up the kid then go pick up the aunt.” Tony would later regret not calling Ned himself. 

Tony didn’t know that even Spider-Man’s pseudo parent didn’t know who he was. That was a fun conversation. He got out of it as quickly as he could, promising he’d explain once she arrived upstate. Yeah, he was going to need Pepper’s help with that one. 

That night was not the first night Tony had thanked his lucky stars for Helen Cho. She’d managed to expertly patch up the boy and uncovered a few things in the process. He hadn’t known that the kid had enhanced healing; that would make things easier. She was keeping him sedated for a couple of days to help with the bigger injuries and predicted that by the time he woke up, most if not all of the smaller ones would be completely healed. 

Peter had never laid on something so comfortable. That was the first thought that popped into his head. The second was that he had no idea where he was. He wanted to open his eyes and find out but he was extremely groggy and it took a while. The last person he expected to see when he opened them was Tony freaking Stark. He opened his mouth to speak but Mr Stark held up a hand to stop him.   
“Save your breath kid. I owe you one. Big time. But we’ll talk about all that when you’re feeling better. I just wanted to thank you before your visitors came in. They haven’t slept in days, they’ve been worried sick.”  
“Days?” Peter asked. Instead of getting an answer though, May and Ned rushed in and gave him a hug.   
“I’m giving you a free pass until you’re out of this bed but you’ve got a whole lot of explaining to do Spider-Man.” May said. 

Peter couldn’t keep the horrified look off his face and turned to Mr Stark for help but the man just winked at him and gave a hearty chuckle on his way out the door.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos/comments mean the world to me! 
> 
> Follow/send prompts to my instagram @everydaytomholland


End file.
